Ivory trade MUST stop !

31 December 2017

As announced earlier this year, China is ready to ban all forms of trade and possession of ivory, becoming a leading figure in the fightagainst elephant poaching. John Scanlon, secretary general of CITES explains in an article published in the South China Morning Post, that this dynamic must be pursued and strengthened worldwide.

As a matter of fact, if a formal ban doesn’t prevent illegal selling of ivory products on black markets, its price now dissuades many potential buyers from purchasing it. Besides Beijing’s strong stand qualified as bold by John Scanlon, efforts need to be intensified to put elephants slaughter to an end in African. These criminal activities that endanger the balance of the African ecosystems and the well-being of local populations must stop now.

If nothing is done in the rest of the world, the buyers of poaching products will have made all the elephants disappear within 10 years. In order to encourage public policies, CITES created the National Ivory Action Plans, a practical set of tools designed to help state members of the convention implement concrete actions to put ivory trade to an end.